Zombies, Set Theory, and Hot Buttered Rum

Here are some weekend highlights:

• Friday: attended a grad student workshop on the Tractatus given by an eighth-year student who's finishing up his dissertation on Wittgenstein. There's maybe going to be a Tractatus study group next semester, which would be awesome. We didn't spend a huge amount of time on the Tractatus in college, so I'd be especially interested in going through it more deeply.

• Luke had to cancel his scare-fest on account of rain, which was disappointing until it turned out to mean I got to hang out with the department's Cool Kids two nights in a row instead of one. VTL gave me a ride to his house (he kind of lives in mild, undergrad-y squalor, not to my surprise) where we watched Old School with his roommates and then Shana, Luke, and Mike arrived and after a bit we went out to the Crazy Horse, where Luke warned me about Cufflinks and the way Evangelical Christians are likely to operate. I am willing to take his word for it since he was raised Evangelical (his father is a preacher, which is kind of astonishing when you know Luke) but I still think he was being a bit alarmist.

• After the Crazy Horse, we went to hear a Detroit ghetto-tech DJ Mike and Shana really dig. We danced until last call while Night of the Living Dead played on giant screens on either side of the dance floor.

• In the morning I awoke, fresh as a daisy and filled with high spirits, and read a very cogent essay by Hilary Putnam.

• Later that day I met up with the two History & Philosophy of Science guys in my set theory class to work on the homework. I have resented them a bit ever since they made fun of me in front of the Badger but now we're burying the hatchet, and I'm glad. I'm even gladder that I totally schooled them in set theory and whipped out some fine, fine, superfine proofs on the chalkboard. At the end of one of them, the Australian clapped.

• You know what's attractive? Smugness. Everybody loves a smug girl.

• And then finally it was evening and time to go to Luke's to get our scare on. Luke had built a bonfire and set up some scary mannequins. He's the kind of boy who owns mannequins, which he got at a garage sale. One of them is named Gloria. "It was kind of awkward undressing her in front of my mom," he admitted. (Gloria was tied to a tree in a prom dress and covered in "pig's blood" to be Carrie.)

• Once everyone arrived, we split up into two cars and ventured further into the heart of darkness (as Luke put it) to a very ramshackle haunted house. There, we played a reflex-testing game that gave the loser an electric shock. I played about seven rounds but wasn't shocked once, somewhat to my disappointment. It was really a rather spooky place, though I was right behind VTL, who spoiled the ambiance by talking loudly and touching everything curiously.

• The second haunted house was a little more upscale and more tableau-oriented. None of us wanted to be in the back because there were people who would follow you around, which was unsettling. A guy with no eyes and lots of rotting flesh got way up in my face, too, which was also not to my liking.

• At the end of that haunted house, as you exit and head towards the funnel cake vendors, a guy in a mask chases you with a chainsaw. It is indeed a real chainsaw, although Luke told me afterwards that it has no chain, rendering it harmless. It is certainly loud, however. I did not run (because that would be undignified) but I did walk REALLY FAST.

• After all the scaring we went back to Luke's, where we sat around the fire and drank hot buttered rum and listened to Nick Cave. It was perfect bonfire weather, the company was congenial, and the rum was very delicious. We stayed until around 2:30 and then VTL drove me and Shana back to civilization. I woke up this morning feeling like the last piece of a puzzle, like I fit where I belong. Good times don't last forever, I am well aware, but I am enjoying this good time right now.
  

It has been a fantastic weekend.